Comparative Study: The World Around Us

David Carvajal

Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner and
writer.Hes architecture was focused on citizens living in crowded areas, mainly urban
throughout the world. He was a member of Congrs international d'architecture
moderne (CIAM) which was an organization focused on spreading modernism
throughout Europe in terms of landscape, urbanism, industrial design, and many
others.In 1922, Corbusier created a plan in which he called for large blocks of cell-like
individual apartments stacked one on top of one another.This was the spark of urbanism
and hes strong connection to solve the problems found within urban areas. The
Curutchet House (1949-1953) was an architectural piece commissioned by Dr. Pedro
Domingo Curutchet, a surgeon, in 1948. This house exemplifies his five points of
architecture and incorporates a ramp and a spiral staircase. Also incorporates historical
and cultural characteristics of architecture.

A 3d rendering of the the

interior of the house. He used
many of the 5 points created
in his plan.
The Curutchet House
(1949-1953)

Corbusiers planning sketches and renderings exemplify the use of his points. For example, the
walls were placed in an abstract geometric form to please the eye and remove any empty space
within the apartment.

Le Corbusier
Five Points

i.

Support of ground-level pilotis, elevating the building from the

earth and allowed an extended continuity of the garden
beneath.

ii.

Functional roof, serving as a garden and terrace, reclaiming for

nature the land occupied by the building.

iii.

Free floor plan, relieved of load-bearing walls, allowing walls to

be placed freely and only where aesthetically needed.

iv.

Long horizontal windows, providing illumination and

ventilation.

v.

Freely-designed facades, serving only as a skin of the wall and

windows and unconstrained by load-bearing considerations.

Analyzing The Curutchet House

Using one of his 5

Points, The Curutchet
House has an opened
view into the outside
environment. This allows
for open space to be
outside rather than
inside making the house
appear bigger.

The pilotis used in

the structure allows
for the empty space
to be filled to create
a sense of depth.
They also are used
to open up and
elevate the house
for a greater
dimension

Shelby Keefe

Shelby Keefe is an impressionistic painter, teacher and performance artist from

Milwaukee, Wisconsin.She likes to paint a moment in time and is always
passionate in using lighting with her work to make it more realistic.To quote her,
she wants to Leave the viewer to imagine the past while treasuring the present
moment. Through her work, she paints very nostalgic events that she captures
with her eyes and pauses the world around her to paint.Keefe mostly paints
architectural buildings and houses, landscapes and streets, still-lifes and also
portraits/people. Regularly, she uses the technique ala prima painter to make the
paintings texture much more realistic and complex. Most drawings and paintings
that are done usually on a canvas board using oil paints. She wants to take her art
in the future to create more abstract pieces that still keep her theme of still-life and
landscape. Most of her works is capture from the city of Milwaukee and exploring
the urban downtown that it holds within the center.

Happy Hour
18 x 14
Oil on Canvas Board

Impasto: Shelby Keefes Process

Technique used with acrylic and oil where a very thick amount of paint that is
applied directly to the canvas
Brush or painting-knife strokes are visible
This technique is used to created a clear yet some-what blurred image that
almost looks like a photo
Keefe uses this process to create a scene that is very nostalgic and childlike yet
sophisticated

Throughout Shelbys work, she works in a fast pace to

achieve a sense of movement and time in the setting.
Impasto helps to achieve that tone through the rough and
thick layers painted using oils along with a medium
These visible marks of paint strokes
help grab the attention of the
viewer and create a unique
composition

Analyzing Happy Hour

Using the oil painting
technique Impasto:

Impasto is a way of
applying paint,
specifically a thick,
textured application of
paint where the marks
made by the brush or
painting knife stay
visible. The paint used
here shows that it was
mixed straight on the
canvas to create a smooth
blend in the sky.

Keefe uses various forms

of repetition in her
pieces to gravitate the
audience to the main
focus. In this painting,
the street lights are used
in the form to direct the
eye to the end of the
street

Use of perspective is
evident in this piece to go
hand and hand with
repetition to lower the
attention.

Rene Magritte
Rene Magritte was a belgian surrealist artist who usually works
with oil to create photo-realistic images to make the painting more
realistic than surrealist. He made thought-provoking work that
would test the viewer's sense perception of the piece. At the same
time, created awkward yet very detailed and almost illusionist
composition.Many of his early pieces were inspired by Pablo
Picasso but later moved towards a Cubo-Futuristic style.
If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a
translation of the dream. -One of his most famous quotes that
relate to his artwork
Much of pop culture at the time was influenced by his artwork and
almost created a brand of his own with the theme of the unreal or
the mind-blowing world Magritte created in his work.

Magritte, Rene. The Human Condition. Digital image. Rene

Magritte Biography, Paintings, and Quotes. 1 Jan. 2009. Web.

Analyzing The Human Condition

Like in many of his pieces, he
includes the cloud to give the
idea of a dream but to mix it up
with reality. The sky and clouds
add to the effect of reality while
create a dream-like scenario.

The painting style is very

detailed and blended to
create a realistic
composition. Using oil,
this mix of colors is done
off the palette and slowly
added on to the canvas to
keep all layers blended.

Magritte creates the illusion

that the painting and the
outside environment are two
separate things yet they are
one. This effect affects the
audience to rethink this
illusion as it holds a greater
meaning that many look past

Capturing a Moment in Time

All these
pieces capture
in instant in
time that the
artist wanted
to document
and inform
the audience
of. The
arrangement
of the
composition
gives the tone
of memory
and nostalgia.

These two
pieces
compare in
the way that
they capture
a scenery of
the outdoors
and the
environment
. In contrast
with the
Hurrell piece
that captures
a woman in a
black to
white
scheme.
Both of these scenes capture
the environment of the artist
and create a piece that takes the
audience to a calm mood

Differences
Hurrells piece has a human subject while the other two pieces have a scenery
of the outdoors
The obvious difference that all three have their own unique medium
Keefes and Magritte's pieces use of color give a vibrant tone while Hurrells
piece uses a black-to-white scheme to make a drastic and intense
composition
Magrittes piece has a surrounding of a nature like environment while Keefe
has a more modernized and industrial environment
Keefes and Hurrell have a realistic scenario while Magritte has a dream-like
image

Comparing Techniques

Both uses lighting as a

main source of
creating a realistic
effect on the overall
image
Using shadows to
create depth within
the subject (In Keefe,
the buildings and in
Hurrell, the face of the
subject)
Paint to Keefe is cloth
and backdrops to
Hurrell as they are
able to manipulate
these instruments in
their work

Contrasting the Techniques

Rene Magritte
Decalcomania is the
technique of pressing a sheet
of paper onto a painted
surface and peeling it off
again, while grattage is the
process of scraping pigment
across a canvas that is laid
on top of a textured surface.
He used a combination of
these techniques in The
Barbarians of 1937

Shelby Keefe
Technique used with
acrylic and oil where a
very thick amount of
paint that is applied
directly to the canvas.

Theme of Time and Space

The common theme of time really stood out to me in the development of my
ideas as I progressed in my art journey. Capturing a moment in time is a
difficult task to accomplish in a 2-dimensional form and I really wanted to
experiment with that idea. As Rene Magritte used the painting frame in his
piece to create an illusion of a pause in time, I was influenced to do something
similar.
With my piece on the left, titled Sense of Time
plays with the theme of quantum physics and the
endless possibilities of an event and its
outcomes. Creating this illusion with paint very
similar to how Magritte create a dream-like
scenario was a challenge that took error and
trial. In contrast to Magritte where environment
played a key role in his work to create an
illusion, I was geared to physically developing
the sense of time through different motions in
the piece. Placing an emphasis on the figure
rather than the surroundings to focus on time
was an intention that differentiates me from
Magritte's attention to the dream-like
environment.

The Illusion of Architecture

As Le Corbusier used space as well as pilotis as some of his 5 high
developed points to designing his signature houses, I was inspired
to develop and merge these concepts. Most of Le Corbusiers
structures had the color scheme of white to indicate a new, pure and
fresh take on these newly developed houses and I decided to go with
the same colors. I wanted to create the sense of a dream-like

environment much like Magritte but as well integrating an

architectural aspect to the
whole composition. Much
like in the Curutchet
House, a tree was placed
in the center of the house
to invoke nature within
and I decided to
incorporate a tree to
sustain my structure. In
contrast to Le Corbusiers
house, I went on the
opposite side of the
spectrum by having an
illusional house that
seems to have no end or
stop to emulate the style
of Magritte.

The Flying City of Milwaukee

Works Cited Page

http://www.studioshelby.com/ShelbyKeefe/impressionistPainterBio
"Shelby's Biography." Shelby Keefe Biography. Accessed May 18, 2015.
http://www.renemagritte.org/biography.jsp
"Rene Magritte Biography." Rene Magritte Biography. Accessed May 18, 2015.
http://architecturalmoleskine.blogspot.com/2011/07/le-corbusier-curutchet-house.html